Ukraine on Monday reported it had foiled a Russian-backed sabotage plot on a railway in Rivne Oblast.
According to Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), the suspect is a 23-year-old resident of Ukraine’s Lviv region who was allegedly working for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Newsweek reached out to the FSB via online form on Monday for comment.
Why It Matters
Russia frequently targets Ukrainian infrastructure to disrupt daily life in the country as well as to slow the delivery of weapons to the front lines. In one of the notable examples of such attacks, Russia hit Ukrainian rail lines in multiple regions with airstrikes in April 2024 in an attempt to slow the transportation of U.S. weapons to Kyiv’s soldiers.
What To Know
The SBU said in a statement that the detained suspect came to the city of Sarny on the instructions of the Russian intelligence agency to blow up the railway tracks. The statement noted trains with military equipment for Ukraine’s Armed Forces pass through the targeted station.
The suspect was reportedly caught “red-handed” as he attempted to place explosives near the train tracks.
Passengers walk to board a train in the village of Osynovo in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on December 9, 2024.
Passengers walk to board a train in the village of Osynovo in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on December 9, 2024.
Photo by ROMAN PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images
The Russians “planned to remotely activate explosives while the train was moving and thus disrupt the delivery of military aid to the front line,” the SBU said.
The security service added that the suspect was also allegedly given orders by the FSB to collect information regarding Ukraine’s military facilities in Lviv Oblast.
The SBU said the suspect had expressed pro-Kremlin views on social media and wanted to move to Russia. He was previously prosecuted for vandalism at the burial sites of Ukrainian soldiers.
The suspect has been charged with high treason and sabotage under martial law.
Similar Spy-Related Incident
His detention follows a recent incident of FSB agents allegedly trying to collect intelligence on Ukrainian aviation infrastructure for future missile strikes on F-16 jets.
According to a January 28 statement from the SBU, FSB agents were apprehended while they were “hunting” for information regarding fighter jets and combat helicopters near one of Ukraine’s military airfields.
“The [FSB] agents’ task was to collect the exact coordinates of the main and reserve airfields and aviation infrastructure facilities of Ukraine so that the enemy could later launch missile and drone strikes on them,” the SBU said.
What People Are Saying
Ukraine’s SBU said in a statement about the man arrested for attempted sabotage of a railway: “He came into the FSB’s sights as an ideological supporter of racism and because of his desire to leave for Russia, which he repeatedly wrote about on social networks.
“As the investigation established, the defendant received step-by-step instructions from his Russian handlers: to arrive in the Rivne region, take the explosives from the cache, and plant them at specified coordinates on the tracks.”
What Happens Next
The suspect is in custody and faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.